Dear Congregation,

Last time we looked at Job’s cry to his friends for relief–or at least for understanding as to why he sought his relief (from his suffering condition) from God (7.1-6). Having “no luck” with his friends, Job turns now to God for understanding and for mercy. Read Job’s prayer in one sitting. It’s shocking, isn’t it? We don’t often hear prayers like that. We certainly don’t often pray prayers like that. But, actually, there are many prayers like the in the Scriptures. Just look up the psalms of lament. Read Jeremiah’s prayer in 20.7. These are the prayers of sufferers, prayers from the ash heap, prayers forged in the fires of pain, loss, grief, and despair. Two elements ring true in every prayer of a sufferer: 1) the honesty of the one praying, and 2) the sincerity of the One listening. I hope to come back to Job’s prayer for a few nuggets of wisdom, but for this week it’s important we take it in as a whole so we can feel the full force of Job’s pain as a sufferer and get the full sense of God’s grace towards sufferers. 

I pray this outline will help you prepare to sit profitably under the ministry of God’s Word. Please pray for God’s blessing on this message and consider inviting a fellow-sufferer to join you in God’s house this Lord’s Day. 

In Christ’s love,

Pastor James

Practical Directions for Corporate Prayer

1. Keep your prayers at a reasonable length so others have time to pray.
2. Don’t pray about everything, lest you discourage others from praying. Before the meeting ends, if a particular matter was never brought up, then pray again and include it.
3. Keep the glory and kingdom of God in focus as you pray. Plead for His will to be done, for His kingdom to come, for His Son to be exalted, for His church to be strengthened, and for His Spirit to rule in our hearts, lives, families, and congregation.
4. Remember, prayer’s not about changing God’s will to match your desires; it’s about changing your desires to match His will. And as God pleases, prayer either lifts the cross off you or gives you grace to bear it honorably. So pray submissively, being bold to pray the promises and yet humbly content for God to fulfill them as and when He pleases.
5. Remember to add thanksgiving and praise to your supplications. Prayer is more than petition.
6. Leave your prayers with confidence and humility at the throne of grace. God will do with them what He wills, which is always best.

The Call to Prayer

        Ps 50.15, Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

        Acts 2.42, And the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

        Mt 6.5-9, And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard  for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven…”

        Eph 6.10-12, 18, Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil…praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. And keep alert with all perseverance, making intercession for the saints.

        Col 4.2, Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

        1Tim 2.1-2, First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

        Js 5.13, Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

        1Th 5.17, Pray without ceasing.

        Phil 4.5-7, The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

        Heb 4.16, Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Grounds for Prayer

        Jer 14.7, Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.

        Jer 14.20-21, We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us.

        2Chr 14.11, And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.”

        Dan 9.18, O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.

God’s covenant and promises

        Ps 89.28-33, My steadfast love I will keep for [Christ] forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness.

Encouragements in Prayer

        Isa 65.24, Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.

        Jer 33.3, Call to me and I will answer you.

        Joel 2.32, Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.

        Ps 81.10, I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

        Ps 102.13, You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come.

        Ps 126.6, He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

        Pr 10.24, What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.

        Isa 45.19, I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right.

        Mt 7.8, Everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

        Mt 18.19-20, If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

        Jn 14.13, Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

        1Jn 5.14, This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

        Js 5.16, Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

        Zech 13.9, They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’

        Ps 34.4, I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

Characteristics of Acceptable Prayer

        Sincerity: You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (Jer 29.13).  And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others (Mt 6.5).

        Faith: Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Heb 11.6). If any of you lacks…let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (Js 1.5-6). Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith (Heb 10.22).

        Humility: If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2Chr 7.14). And going a little farther Jesus fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will (Mt 26.39). And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son’ (Lk 15.21).

        Forgiveness: If you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Mt 6.14).

        Fervor: Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for…my people (Jer 9.1)! O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you (Ps 88.1). Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes (Dan 9.3). And being in an agony Jesus prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Lk 22.44). In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence (Heb 5.7).

A Prayer for Deliverance from Distress

        Daniel 9.3-19, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”

The Puritans on Prayer

• Prayer is the soul’s breathing itself into the bosom of its heavenly Father. –Watson
• You can do more than pray after you’ve prayed, but you can’t do more than pray until you’ve prayed. –Bunyan
• Prayer is nothing but the promise reversed, or God’s Word turned into an argument, and retorted by faith upon God again. –Gurnall
• Prayer is putting the promises to suit upon God. –Trapp
• Tears have a tongue, and grammar, and language, that our Father understands. –Rutherford
• I had rather stand against the cannons of the wicked than against the prayers of the righteous. –Lye
• Good prayers never come weeping home. I’m sure I shall receive, either what I ask or what I should’ve asked. –Hall
• The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel. –Watson
• Pray often. For prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan. –Bunyan
• That which does not begin with prayer, seldom winds up with comfort. –Flavel
• When people do not mind what God speaks to them in His Word, God does as little mind what they say to Him in prayer. –Gurnall
• Christ went more readily to the cross than we do to the throne of grace. –Watson
• There is no prayer acknowledged, approved, accepted, recorded, or rewarded by God, but that in which the heart is sincerely and wholly engaged. –Brooks
• Be particular with God. A great reason we reap so little benefit in prayer is because we rest too much in generals. –Lee
• Prayer that is faithless is fruitless. –Watson
• Cold prayers always freeze before they reach heaven. –Brooks
• We must pray with our hand on the plow or the field will be barren despite our prayers. Pray and work or pray and starve. Do you think to set God to work while you sit with your hand in your pocket? –Gurnall
• Pray often rather than very long at a time. It is hard to be very long in prayer and not slacken in our affections. –Gurnall
• I have been benefited by praying for others; for by making an errand to God for them, I have gotten something for myself. –Rutherford
• He that cannot pray, let him go out to sea, and there he will learn. –Adams
• A praying man can never be very miserable. Whatever his condition be, he has the ear of God. Thus, it is a mercy to pray, even if I never receive the mercy prayed for. –Bridge
• A saint is to put forth his faith in prayer and then afterwards follow his prayer with faith. –Powell
• Set no time to the Lord to fulfill your prayers; for His time is always best. –Rutherford

November 8-10, 2019

A warm welcome is extended to

Rev. Ian Hamilton

Minister of Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, England

Trustee of Banner of Truth and board member of

Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and

London Theological Seminary. Adjunct Professor for

Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

THE FAITH SHAPED LIFE

“This is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” 1 Jn 5:4

The Christian life is a faith-shaped life. Faith is the instrument that unites us to Christ, but it is also the reality that shapes how we live in union with Christ. From beginning to end, the Christian lives by faith.

The life of faith is not easy. The Christian is engaged in an unrelenting warfare with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Every step forward will be contested. The one thing that will keep the believer on track and pressing on is moment by moment trust in God, in His Word, in the goodness and perfection of His purposes, and in His exceedingly great and precious promises.

Come join us as Rev. Ian Hamilton explores The Faith-Shaped Life.

Our Conference Schedule…

Christ Chapel:

Friday 7 p.m. – Living in Communion with Jesus Christ

Saturday 10 a.m. – Living in Obedience to Jesus Christ

Saturday 4:30 p.m. – Living by Faith and Not by Sight

Presbyterian Church of Cape Cod:

Sunday 8:50 a.m. – Living a Mission Focused Life

Sunday Corporate Worship 10 a.m. – Living by the Spirit’s Leading

Sunday 4:40 p.m. – Complaining, Waiting, and Trusting

Bookstore will be open Friday at 6pm and following Friday & Saturday’s Sessions.

Please kindly REGISTER using the link below. We need a count for the conference, as well as, the Saturday luncheon.

An offering will be taken at each session to help cover the conference expenses. Thank you for your giving! Your giving makes this conference possible and continues this important ongoing ministry to Cape Cod and New England.

 To REGISTER go to the following 2019 CCRC Registration

Looking forward to seeing you in November!

(Brochures for the conference will be available on this site at the end of May, 2019)

AMERICAN GOSPEL

FRIDAY, MAY 17TH

6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

What is the Gospel? We will view 2 clips from a film about what Americans understand to be the good news of the Christian faith. 

Does Christianity=Christ + the American dream? Come join us for a night of film, discussion and Q & A. 

Special guests Owen Strachan and Jared Wilson will join us. 

Located at 1200 Old Stage Road, Centerville at Christ Chapel

https://presbyterianchurchofcapecod.com/2019/05/933/

        Coming into the Reformed Faith out of the Pentecostalism of the Bible belt and the false teaching of the Word of Faith movement with “Dad” Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and Benny Hinn, I was starving for trustworthy commentaries and biblical interpreters; but I didn’t know where to find them. I had just read the Bible through for the first time in my life and was confronted with the many errors in my belief system and with many truths in Scripture which I’d never been taught. I didn’t know where to go from there, but I knew I couldn’t in good conscience continue as a pentecostal, word-of-faith, arminian, dispensational believer.

        Although I cared nothing for reading, in God’s gracious providence, my dear friend Dan put a book into my hands for which I will be eternally grateful. It was Boettner’s Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. It radically affected me and opened my eyes to the analogy of faith (using Scripture to interpret Scripture) and to the Reformed Faith–which I believe with all my heart is, as Warfield said, “Christianity comes into its own.” I’d never seen anyone listen to Scripture the way Boettner did. He treated it as the authoritative Word of God and simply let it speak–even if it meant demolishing one’s preconceived notions and biases. He didn’t manipulate it to make it fit his thinking. He didn’t avoid its difficult sayings and tensions. He let Scripture stand as God had given it, let clear passages govern unclear ones, and left the secret things in the hands of God. I’d never seen hermeneutics like that before and at the end of the book was driven by two questions: “Who taught him? What authors was he reading?” I wanted to learn from the teachers who’d taught him to understand and exegete the Word of God as he had in his book. I wanted to read the books he’d read. So I turned to his Bibliography–and that’s where I was introduced to writers like Warfield, Hodge, Dabney, Berkhof, and Kuyper.

        That same thought that drove me all those years ago to learn from my teacher’s teachers is the very thought that’s propelling the production of a massive “top-shelf” dvd project entitled Puritan: All of Life to the Glory of God (puritandocumentary.com) by Media Gratiae (who brought us Logic on Fire and Behold your God) and Reformation Heritage Books. The boxset includes 3 dvds (Disc 1, a 2-hr documentary on the significance of the Puritans; Discs 2 and 3, 17 sessions on key Puritans and 17 sessions on important Puritan themes), a workbook, a book introducing the Puritans, and more.

        We all read and listen–with joy and edification, I might add–to men such as John MacArthur, Steven Lawson, Geoff Thomas, J. I. Packer, John Piper, Joel Beeke, Kevin DeYoung, Mark Dever, Sinclair Ferguson, Al Mohler, Ian Hamilton, Michael Haykin, Derek Thomas, Stephen Yuille, and Chad Van Dixhoorn. And as we’ve listened to these men exposit the Bible, apply the truth, preach the Word, and teach theology, haven’t we asked the questions, “Who taught them? Who are they reading?” In a spectacular and thorough way, this dvd project seeks to give this answer: “The Puritans are the writers whom the preachers and teachers you love so much are reading–and you should be reading them too.” Let me cut to the chase and recommend you order two copies of this boxset, one for yourself and one for your church library.

        My own love for the Puritans came thanks to a recommendation Iain Murray gave at the 2007 Banner of Truth Conference in PA. He was promoting Brooks’ The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod. Although I knew of their importance and had a few of the classic texts, I had only dabbled into the Puritans at that point. But Murray’s recommendation was so appealing that I left home with Vol. 1 of Brooks’ Works. It’s an understatement to say that the hundred page Mute Christian changed my life. It was my first year in the pastorate and I felt the need for two things: 1) mentors for the grand task of pastoral ministry and 2) satiating soul-food to replenish the constant outflow in my ministry to others. “Pastor” Brooks’ treatise on quiet, patient, and trusting suffering did more for my soul and heart than anything I’d ever read. I immediately ordered the remaining volumes of his Works, along with the Works of Bunyan, Manton, Sibbes, Swinnock, and–over time–dozens of others. The more I read the Puritans, the more I found my soul satisfied, my love for Christ grow, my zeal enflamed, my life changed, my congregation and family blessed, and my entire ministry strengthened. Being fully aware of their fallibility as men and their being men of their time, I took the Puritans as my mentors and fed my soul on their writings. They’ve had a tremendous influence on my life and ministry and I thank God for the many blessings that I’ve enjoyed from studying them.

        Here are some of the reasons why I find their writings to be so helpful and why I highly recommend them to you. 1. Their writings are biblically saturated. As Spurgeon said of Bunyan, if you prick a Puritan he’ll bleed Bibline. 2. Their writings are Christ-centered and Christ-exalting. They bring everything back to Christ, showing Him to be a complete Savior who completely saves. 3. They understand sin and the sinfulness of the human heart. Their writings drive the sinner out of all his hiding places and leave him no other refuge but in Christ alone. 4. They give a clarion call to intentional holiness, calling God’s people to walk in the good works prepared for them, all the while maintaining that true holiness is a work of the Spirit which we enjoy by faith in Christ and pursue out of a love for God–which makes them haters of legalism and lovers of the law of Christ. 5. They constantly press the comforts of the gospel onto the consciences of the weak and doubting believer, rehearsing the themes of free grace, full grace, relentless grace, grace all-sufficient for all our sin-troubled days. 6. They teach how to walk through suffering with patience, joy, gratitude, and faith. 7. They’re exemplary in preaching the whole counsel of God to the whole man, aiming at head, heart, and hand, seeking to awaken the conscience, stir the affections, and change the life. 8. They believed in the sufficiency of the Word of God for life, for ministry, for counseling, for evangelism, for all things.

        The writings of the Puritans are a spiritual, Christ-centered, soul-satisfying feast. I pray you’ll make room for them on your reading list. You’ll be glad you did.